moving house, what about utilities

mcbiddy

Hi everyone!
I am just in the process of buying my first house which is brilliant and exciting and oh sooo scary! anyway everything is ticking along nicely with solicitors doing whatever it is that they do. and it just occured to me that it may be quite cold when i move in and i'll need gas, elec and water suppliers from day one. does anybody know how this is arranged. i don't want to stay with the suppliers i have in my rented house and finding the cheapest can easily be done thanks to martin and his handy tips :money: , but when should i arrange this? should i be worrying about this now and organising as soon as i have a contract exchange date, or do i have a few days after the move to sort that out with retroactive effect?
all i could find on the site was advice on how to switch but nothing on how to set up first time...
Any advice welcome!

Jeewhizz

When you get the keys, and move in, take a note of the water, elec & gas meter numbers.

Call the relevant suppliers* and then say you have just moved in, and give them the meter readings. They will start a fresh account for you from those figures.

* You can usually get the list of suppliers from the old owners. If that's not the case, your water company will be the same as your neighbours - ask them. For gas, you can call transco. For electricity, call Energy Watch (as per http://www.ukpower.co.uk/faqs.asp#whosupplies )

Jee

mcbiddy

Thanks! that helps a lot - at least to the extent that it removes some of the stress!

pknottm

Jeewhizz wrote:

Call the relevant suppliers* and then say you have just moved in, and give them the meter readings. They will start a fresh account for you from those figures.
Jee

Hi..
does that mean you have to start off with the same supplier as the previous owner?
Can't you just take the readings and give them to any supplier of your choice?

djm1972

pknottm wrote:

Hi..
does that mean you have to start off with the same supplier as the previous owner?
Can't you just take the readings and give them to any supplier of your choice?

If you called another supplier and said you wanted to open an account with them instead of the one used by the current owner I am in no doubt at all that they would say "That's fine, what are the readings..."

HOWEVER

I wouldn't trust the procedure to work smoothly in a million years. What will end up happening is that you will get your new bill AND a bill for the original owner, and i'll leave you to consider what it might take to get that sorted out.

I would strongly recommend staying with the existing supplier; and then switching to a new provider after the first billing cycle after you move in!

debjam

When we moved to our new house I was with Powergen at my previous address and I informed them before I moved that I wanted to carry on with them when I moved in. When we moved I found out that our new house was supplied by British Gas, I contacted them with the gas and elec readings and informed them that I would be moving to Powergen, I also contacted Powergen with the meter readings. It took 6 months to work it all out as British Gas would not release the account and then gave Powergen incorrect meter readings. We were getting bills from both Powergen and British Gas it was a nightmare.

manhattan

try quidco for cashback on gas, elec, bt, internet and insurance etc on your new house.

pknottm

djm1972 wrote:

I would strongly recommend staying with the existing supplier; and then switching to a new provider after the first billing cycle after you move in!

do you know whether there is a minimum length of contract. Does it depend on the Supplier (the existing house is supplied by Powergen). I've looked on their website but cannot find anything in their T&Cs regarding minimum lengths of contract.

Cheers for the help! :beer: